Anyone who would have seen Rahul Dravid recently after a gap will wonder what's the secret behind him looking so young. One-day cricket's comeback man must have lost a few kilos.
Anyone who would have seen Rahul Dravid recently after a gap will wonder what's the secret behind him looking so young. One-day cricket's comeback man must have lost a few kilos.
When MiD DAY met him in Bangalore during the Indian cricket team's camp, our first reaction was: "Wow Rahul, you are looking so slim, fit and young."
"Thanks for the compliment," Dravid said. "I have been working hard for the past few months, since the New Zealand tour, to be precise. I thought I was getting everything right my technique, mental set-up and hunger for runs everything was just in place. The only missing link was fitness. I mean the cutting edge, not general fitness. I thought that this is in my hand. I started working towards it and you can see the result."
Dravid has always been known to be very particular about his fitness regime. When the Indian team was touring New Zealand earlier this year, one remembers only two players working hard at the hotel gym during the last Test in Wellington rookie pace bowler Dhawal Kulkarni and Dravid. Kulkarni was amazed by Dravid's work ethics. The Mumbai bowler asked Dravid how he could motivate himself to work so hard. Pat came the reply: "When my body says no, I say YES. When I don't feel like going to the gym, I hit the gym and work 25 per cent harder. That is the only way out. You have to condition your body and mind to do what you plan to do."
It was quite evident that after being dropped from India's one-day team in October 2007, Dravid was more than determined to show his skills in the shorter version of the game. After an impressive outing in the inaugural IPL, he was keen to better it in IPL2. He showed his class in his first outing in the tournament played in South Africa, scoring a brisk half century against defending champions Rajasthan Royals.
Once the young turks failed to deliver during World Twenty20 in England and the ODI series in the West Indies, selectors sensed something was wrong in the middle order. As a result, in order to give solidity to the middle order, Dravid was unanimously recalled into the ODI side after a gap of almost two years.
Just like Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid has rare distinction of scoring 10,000 runs in Tests and ODIs forms of cricket.
Now a new-look Dravid is all set to mark fresh guard in ODI cricket. If he can bring inn stability in the middle order, then the team management and the selection committee will be more than relieved.
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